Paola Tamma

And this has really set Europeans into motion and trying to gain a seat at the table with a number of rounds of so-called coalition of the willing meetings.

So these are meetings between some of your leaders, the UK, Norway, other participants, which are often opened up also to US negotiators in order to have at least a forum where Europeans and Ukraine are at a table where peace and security on this continent are being discussed.

So in that sense, there has been some success from Europeans to gain some say in matters that concern them directly.

But then it's always a bit of a struggle.

So even now, currently, there are trilateral talks going on between Russia, US and Ukraine, and Europeans seek to influence these as much as possible, but they do not have control over them.

So the feeling that the US would

Having a deal with Ukraine and Russia above what could be Ukraine's and European security interests is very real.

And it's something that European leaders are very aware of and they're trying to avert in any way possible.

Yeah, I mean, I think that it's very clear that the U.S.

has changed the way that it sees Russia and that it no longer sees it as a primary threat, but rather as a potential at least actor and engage with it in economic terms as well.

Whereas for Europeans, especially people on the Eastern Front, Russia is a very real threat.

We have lived through a number, not just Ukraine, where there's a very active conflict going on, but a number of hybrid threats, be that from the Nordics, the Baltics, but also where I'm sitting in Belgium, there has been drones disrupting air traffic and over military bases.

So

We perceive primarily NATO as a forum to face the threat from Russia.

And that understanding of NATO is now being changed by the U.S.,

And so there is a lot of talk of whether there can be a stronger European pillar of NATO, whether at all we can substitute the US in some of the domains on which we count on them for.

That's, for instance, intelligence, nuclear deterrence, and so on.

But there is a lot of skepticism that this is achievable at all, or at least in a viable timeframe.

So we have seen, for instance, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte this week addressing the European Parliament saying,

If you think that Europe can deal with its own security alone, think again.